Mastering the Perfect Sales Brochure

The importance of a sales brochure can’t be overstated. Often times, it’s the only piece of collateral – maybe the only branded message, period – that your prospect will ever see.

If they don’t make it past the brochure, chances are you’ll lose them. But if the brochure impresses them and gives them a reason to want to know more, you’re one step closer to closing the deal.

Designing a sales brochure that resonates is as much an art as it is a science. You want to capture attention, develop interest, increase desire, and inspire action – and you have only a limited amount of space to do so.

Be Like Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was known (and was notorious) for his terse, sparse, simplistic writing style. He wrote in short sentences and avoided complexity. His messages hit home and resonated with impact. He came up as a journalist, and it shows in his work.

Since copywriting is an integral part of a sales brochure – and since your reader will only devote seconds of his or her time to reading the brochure – you need to be like Hemingway:

Keep your messages short and sweet

Use shortened sentences

Create bullet lists that are rich in product or service features

Create captivating headlines that are brief and to the point

Use bold nouns and verbs instead of adjectives and adverbs

Design Your Brochure to Flow

Your brochure should naturally lead the reader to “flow” from one section to another. The cover should grab their attention and make then want to open the brochure. Then, once inside, your design and your words should naturally encourage them to move their eyes from the left panel through the center panel and to the right panel.

One way to do this is to use your headlines. People like to skim brochures, so the only copy they’re guaranteed to read, most of the time, is the big, bold words you use to break up sections of text. You should write as if they will only read those headlines. If your headlines can’t tell the story by themselves, your brochure won’t be as successful.

Also, create graphical elements that guide the eye from one area to another. Arrows can work, although they’re clunky. Background imagery is the best way to do it. You can also lay out your content in such a way as to create a definite order to your content – which means people will naturally move from one section to another.

Be Clear with Your Call to Action

Your brochure’s call to action should be:

Crystal clear

Pervasive

It should be clear to the point of simplicity. You want them to do something after they read the brochure. It could be to call you, or email you, or go to a website, or fill out a form, or mail something. Whatever it is, you should make it painstakingly clear, and you should put it in the copy a few times to ensure it sinks in.

Don’t just stick the CTA at the end of the brochure and leave it at that. Make sure they know what the next step is once you’ve piqued their interest.

People Respond to People

People should be a part of your brochure, if at all possible. Virtually any brochure can work with people-based photography. That’s good because people respond to people – they like seeing images of other people on the page, especially when the people in the photo are doing something interesting or are being positive.

We know that you might think of smiling models as being clichéd, and they are, but they’re clichéd because everyone uses them. Why does everyone use them? Because they work.

Avoid Clutter

When designing your brochure, be streamlined and efficient with your space.

Too much of anything is bad. Too much content is unreadable because it’s overwhelming. Too much imagery doesn’t let the eye naturally know where to go, and that’s overwhelming. Too many things going on all at once will make the reader give up before they get started.

This is especially true for the inner panels of the brochure. One trend is to take up the entire space and not segment by panels. Instead, you have just one big panel filled with stuff. This can be useful if you are explaining a process or showcasing one main product, but it can also lead to you adding more and more concepts until it just looks like a convoluted mess.

Cut down on clutter. If it’s not essential to explaining your key message, get rid of it.

Be Firm – Use Quality Paper

Finally, the type of paper you use matters.

No one wants a thin, flimsy brochure that looks like a company went for the cheapest option. They want something with weight to it. It feels better in the hand and it gets more attention. So, use heavier weight options for paper choices when you print. Don’t be afraid to add texture, too. And high-gloss finishes always do well.

Create the Perfect Sales Brochure

Follow these tips and you’re on your way to creating the perfect sales brochure.

If you need help with designing or printing sales brochures, contact the professionals at DMS. We have decades of experience with designing and printing meaningful and effective sales collateral for a variety of organizations across multiple industries and can help you with your brochure needs today.